Hyvää Syntymäpäivä // Happy Birthday

Although I wrote on my blog just 10 days ago, it feels like a month has gone by. My birthday was last week, and I was so busy, I don't know how I didn't collapse in the middle of it!
I was living with my first host family for the week because my current host parents were out of the country on respective vacations. We didn't have school last Thursday or Friday, because of religious holidays, so I had a 4 day weekend to celebrate my birthday! Marika and I made plans to go out to dinner on Wednesday, after school. We were going to go eat at a restaurant in Varkaus, a nearby town, but when her grandpa came to pick us up, instead of driving us to Varkaus, he made a turn to the local hotel and dropped us off in front of a summer cottage! Inside, all my friends from the Wanhat Tanssi (that dance we had in Februrary) were waiting for me, with cake and presents and all! I'm still in shock from the surprise party-- I've always dreamed of having one, but it's one of those dreams that you can't really fulfill on your own. Thankfully, I've made some really amazing friends here in Finland who love me enough to throw a party for me. We danced and ate pizza, and stayed up until the sun rose (which was around 3 or 4AM). This is one of those memories that I know I won't forget for the rest of my life- I've had a lot of those this year!

After a "recovery day" on Thursday from my surprise party, I was back at it again on Friday, my actual birthday. I was woken up by a cheerful round of "Happy Birthday", first in Finnish, then in English, and got hugs from all 4 of my Finnish sisters, and my (host) parents. We don't do that at home, so it was really surprising to me when, before I could even brush my hair, people were singing to me. Around 10 o'clock, we left for Kuopio, where we first did some shopping (and I guiltily bought myself some birthday presents), and then went to eat at a Viking restaurant (that was a surprise too!). All the waitresses and waiters were dressed in period pieces, and we had traditional Finnish food from the viking times, like smoked reindeer liver and smoke sauna pork. It was delicious! Once our pants started feeling tight, we left for some coffee, because we're in Finland, and we can always make coffee fit, no matter how full we are. Once we got home from Kuopio, I didn't have any plans, so I called my friend Jenna, and she asked  me to come watch ice hockey with her and her boyfriend's friends. After the game, we just hung out, and then decided to go to the local bar- my first bar experience as an adult! It was fun, although very empty. We ended up going home around two, but it was still a fun way to spend my birthday. I always have fun in Jenna's company!
The next day, Saturday, I slept for a long time, and then headed over to Julia's house, a girl from high school who lived for a time in the U.S. We had all kind of little snacks and flavored coffee drinks, and we got dressed up to go to a bar in Kuopio. That was quite a different experience from the local one, and we just danced all night long. Needless to say, I was exhausted on Sunday! But I still got up to celebrate Mother's Day with my host mom. She's done so much for me, getting up early on a Sunday is nothing if it means I can show her I care! She's really become like my own mom, and, like the rest of my host family, I love her like my own. There's no question that I will see her again in the coming years!
Here's a picture from me and the girls in Kuopio:

Me and Jenna on the lake at a summer cottage earlier this week. <3 

Kevät!

So it's been about a month since I've last made an entrance, and last you heard Finland was still in full winter. In the last couple of weeks though, spring (kevät) has hit us hard-finally. Of course all Finnish people were telling me about how long this winter has been (as if I needed to be told). But now flowers are starting to bloom, I saw the first mosquito of the season, and the temperature has been rounding off at a good 7 degrees Celcius (that's about 44F). The sun rises between 4AM and 5AM and sets just around 10PM. While for most people this means less sleep and longer days, I find it refreshing after several months of utter darkness. The light changes so quickly- in just a couple of weeks the sun will be setting at 11:30 and rising around 3AM. To me, it seems like a miracle. Having lived all my life with "average" sunlight, I realize how precious light is and I've learned to appreciate the sun so much more.
Along with my appreciation for sunlight and warmth, I've come to notice a huge change in myself. Where before I dreaded going outside, opting for the sanctuary of my dark bedroom with a good movie or book, I have started spending larger and larger amounts of time outside. Maybe it's because in Finnish culture, where nature and outdoor life is a major part of everyday routines, or maybe it's because after 4 months of being forcibly kept inside by bone chilling temperatures and snow storms I'm itching just to feel the breeze in my hair. In any case, I know I'll being spending my entire summer outside this year, soaking up the sun (and fighting off mosquitoes).
On another note, my days in Finland are dwindling down. Only about 70 left; the closer I get to the finish line, the more valuable my days become. Although I've been missing home a lot lately, I know that my time here is soon at an end, and I realize how much I've become attatched to this eccentric nordic culture. I hate to say goodbye to what has been such a life altering time, but in many ways I find I am prepared, because of my year in Finland, to face the rest of my life. I realize that I have been blessed in so many ways, and that I have the time and ability to do anything with my life. My experience as an exchange student has showed me so many new things that I know now how lucky I am to be alive.
Here's a few pictures of some stuff that I've been up to lately...
Me and my friend Marika :)

 

Me and a group of friends when we went to a summer cottage (mind you, I call it a summer cottage, but there was still a foot of snow when we were there) :

Me and Amanda, my host sister from the first host family I had in fall. She got back recently from her exchange in New York, and we've been fast friends although we just met recently! Hän on niin kuin oma sisko! <3 :

I went with my first host family to an Easter celebration at their relative's house (yes, it was Easter, and yes, that's the lake frozen behind me, and yes, we walked across the lake that day). Anyway, I got the chance to try shooting a gun-- and got the bulls eye! I obviously have natural talent... I'm expecting a call from the FBI any day now. Or maybe just the Finnish Army (I don't want to get my hopes up too high):

Me and Amanda, and our little sister Loviisa:

Here are some pictures from when me and a few friends went to another summer cottage:

Here are a few pictures from my dance performance yesterday. We've been practicing for 3 months and finally got to show it off yesterday at the spring show. All the dance groups performed, and I was amazed by the amount of talent there is in our dance company! :

Hockey is my new sport

The shouts and screams covered everything else, along with the beating of our paper fans against our thighs. We cheered, we chanted, we believed until the end. I've never in my life seen a game where the worse our team played, and the longer the game went, the louder the fans cheered. The stadium was just as full when we sat down to win the game as it was when we cheered them through the last 10 seconds of what was one of the worst games (I am told) of the team's history. Of course, having never watched any ice hockey, I had no idea it was a bad game until my host parents said they wanted to leave. I've never been one for watching sports in the first place, but last night was a really new experience for me. It was truly the most amazing experience because for the first time during my exchange I felt sad that this wasn't my own culture and I didn't get to live it every day. On the bright side, I feel a little more prepared for my move to Canada now, and I'm looking forward to watch some hockey next year in college! 

A million things in a matter of weeks...

In the last month, a million things have happened. Maybe that's why I haven't written anything in a long time. I'll keep it to the major points though.
In February, my class celebrated their moving to the oldest class in the school by having a big dance. This is the normal kind of prom or spring fling that we have in the U.S. though... I mean big, princess dresses (I was one of two who didn't have a hoop skirt), boys with bowties and tailcoats, and, of course, balloons. First we trained, for a couple of months, practicing "old dances" like the waltz and the franseesi. Then, on the big day, we had four performances throughout the day for the elementary school, middle school, high school, and finally our parents. It was an incredible experience, and I was really thankful to my partner, Sebastian, who agreed to dance with me even though he's not in the same class as us.

What made the day even more special was the afterparty. We hired a bus to drive us to Kuopio, the big city near us, and joined hundreds of other students at a party in a hotel. There was a dj and some live performance by a Finnish rap artist I'd never heard of... But most importantly we were all together, and as a class I think everyone really bonded (me included!). Some of the people in my class who had never so much as looked me in the eye had long conversations with me about the most off the wall topics... It was a night of my exchange that I won't forget for the rest of my life. These are the moments that are most important to exchange students; the ones where we feel a part of the crowd.

A short two weeks after the dance, the Rotex in our district (Rotex is an organization for young adults who want to be active in Rotary but are either too old for exchange, have already done exchange, or don't want to do exchange) organized a winter weekend for us exchange students. So we packed our bags, skis and toppuhosut (snow pants) and three pairs of socks, and headed out for Siilinjärvi, a small town north of Kuopio. Me and a few other kids decided to do crosscountry skiing instead of downhill, so we set off on an afternoon tour of Siilinjärvi's country. We skiied a good four kilometers, through a farm and then back across the frozen lake (yes, we skiied ON the lake). Over the weekend, we had makkara, or sausage, and lots and lots of soup, and even more cookies and chocolate. It was good that we went skiing or else I'm sure everyone would have gained a couple pounds. Maybe we did anyway... Anyway it was nice to see other exchange students, and finally meet the new ones who came in January to our district from Australia and Brazil. I was especially happy to meet an Australian girl, Amy, who lives a short 20 minutes from my town!

Unfortunately, when the weekend was over, it was time for me to change families agian. Although it's always hard to say goodbye to host families, I was happy to find my way back into town. My new host family, with whom I've been living for 3 or 4 weeks, have been very generous and welcoming, much as my first two were. They live a different way than either of my previous families did, though, and for that reason I'm really happy I chose Rotary, one of the only programs that give students the oppportunity to be in more than one host family.
My host parent's names are Ilkka and Eeva, and they have one daughter who is studying at the university in Joensuu. My host father is an architect, and my host mom works at the bank. I've loved living in their family. They are both very active and engaging; we always speak in Finnish, and since moving there my Finnish has improved very much- though my English has gone the other way... We go skiing together and spend time at cottages (even though it's winter!). My host dad and my host sister's fiance made a hole in the ice for me at the cottage for me to try avantoon (jumping in the frozen lake!). It turns out, you can't actually swim in the frozen lake because it's too cold, and you have to wear a hat and gloves and socks while you do it, but it was such an amazing- and refreshing- Finnish experince. I think I might be doing it again before the spring really comes!
Sauna before avantoon...

 

After avantoon, outside!

My host parents also took me along to go ice fishing. It was a great learning experience, and I also realized that I have a weaker stomach than I thought. But no one will ever say I didn't try!

This past month has been filled with highs and lows, both associated with feeling truly at home in your host country. I'm only just realizing how important this experience has been to me, and how far I've traveled from the person who got on that plane seven months ago. It's true what they say- it's not a year in a life, it's a life in a year. And every day  I know I'm a day closer to saying good bye to this life... But at least I still have three and half months of this amazing experience. Going home will be the hardest part of my exchange.

Sauna

Picture this: you're sitting in a room, with the door locked. You're naked, and there's an oven in the room. The oven keeps the room at a temperature of, minimum, 60 degrees Celcius, probably closer to 70 or 75. There's a bucket of water at your feet with a big metal ladel in it, and you've been throwing water onto the oven till the tiny window in the corner fogs up. You've gathered some braches from a birch tree in your back yard and tied them together. You start to hit yourself gently with the braches, and, past the slight sting in your nose from the heat, you can smell the aroma of birch trees filling the air. When you can't stand the heat anymore, you step out of sauna, and wander into your backyard. Mind you, the snow is up to your thighs in places that haven't been touched this winter. First, you're just walking around, trying to cool down after the heart-pounding heat you underwent during sauna, but then you decide to lay down. Naked. In the snow.

What you've just pictured in a typical Finnish sauna, as well as what I've been experienced time and time again since my arrival in this beautiful country. Sauna might be the thing I miss most about Finland when I leave! Here's a picture of my "body print" in the snow from tonight's sauna.

New Year, New Family

I was planning on writing another post directly after my Christmas post about New Year's and moving into a new family. However, as you can see, it's taken me a little time to catch up... I've been sick three times since Christmas, and I'm told that's normal for a Finnish winter. Fortunately, I have a family that is very understanding of how my immune system isn't used to the hot and cold (being inside, around 20 degrees celcius, and immediately going outside to a more often than not bone chilling minus 25 degrees). But, I've been taking my vitamen D, not that it fulfills my constant craving for grass and a hot summer's day on the beach, but at least it's supposed to keep me healthy.

As for the new family, I am overjoyed. My family is kind and welcoming, not unlike the last. I have found one more reason to appreciate the Rotary Youth Exchange (the only exchange program with multiple families). I see my first family more than once a week, and they have been so supportive of me during this inbetween stage. After five months of living in the Utriainen family (August to January), being in a new host family required almost as much adjustment as it did when I first came to Finland. I've been here almost an entire month now, and it feels like home. From the late night movies and UNO tournaments, to the everyday hustle and bustle of conforming four adults' schedules, I've found that there is yet another family in which I find myself a part of. That being said, I won't forget to mention the obstacles that come with living in a family you've never met. In my new host family, the Auvinens, I have found three different and strong personailities- much like the family I have at home, in the U.S. But despite big personalities, there is so much love in this house- especially for the cats!

The new house I'm living in is very warm. They use the heating system very little, and in place light a fire almost daily. I have my own room, and it's really spacious (which is nice since I've accumulated so much stuff!). The only thing that seems really different to me, comparing ´to my own family's house in the U.S., is the shower. Instead of having a shower in the bathroom, like most American homes, here the shower is a separate room (with sauna!), next to the fireplace. The sauna is heated by the fireplace; it's difficult to explain, but the fireplace can be opened up in the back to heat the bottom of the oven in the sauna. I guess as far as weird Finnish customs go, this is the least of my problems. So far, I've had to face a gruesome plate of raw fish for breakfast, at least twenty offerings of salmiaki (or salty licorice), probably 100 questions about how I feel about raw fish and salmiaki, and the prospect of drinking salmiaki vodka, which is a practice entirely normal to the Finnish people. I think I can deal with the shower.
The house and my room:

As for New Year's Eve, the Auvinen's gave me a warm welcome with a typical Finnish tradition involving tin horse shoes. We melted the horseshoes over the fire, and dumped them into a bucket of cold water. When the melted tin hits the water, it takes solid form again, and the form it takes tells about the kind of year you should expect. Mine was rather shaped like a volcano, in addition to lots of little rigid pieces that supposedly represent money. My host mom bought me a fram to place the tin pieces in so I can have a memory of my New Year in Finland.

My calender for the next few months is packed- which I love. I've never been one for sitting around the house, waiting for someone else to invite me somewhere. From the new friends I've made at school, to outings with other exchange students I think I won't be bored for the rest of my exchange. This weekend, my host family and I are going to Helsinki to visit my host grandmother, and get some shopping done. My host mother says she'll be taking me to an American shop that sells things like Hershey's chocolate- can't wait! Next month, the 2nd graders (or 11th graders for us Americans) are going to be having a performance called the Vanhojen Tanssi. I know, it's a mouthful. It translates as Old Dance; in celebration of the ABIT, or seniors, graduating, and the 2nd graders becoming the oldest in the school, they perform a selection of old fashioned dances, like the waltz, tango, and, most special to me, the Virginia Reel. I am also participating in the dance, and personally am very excited to be able to partake in a very Finnish tradition for young people. Besides that, in February, I have a Rotary weekend of skiing and snowboarding, and most importantly, meeting the new members of our district from Brazil and Australia. I won't get too far into my plans for the next few months, just so that I have some things to surprise you with, but I'm excited to be here, and my exchange has become more about meeting new people and having new experiences than I thought it could be!
Here's a beautiful picture of the Finnish sunset, which I'm always awake to see!

Joulua: Christmas!

Christmas has been one of the best experiences in my exchange. I know I probably start every post with that, but I felt so happy this Christmas. Christmas started on the 24th, starting with dinner with the family. We had ham, casseroles, potatoes, and lots and lots of fish (Finnish tradition). It didn't feel like Christmas dinner at all; I'm used to squash, okra, honey ham, bread rolls, gravy, green beans, along with an assortment of pies, cakes, and candies made by my grandmother and various aunts. NO FISH! I never knew I should appreciate that before- now I know. Anyway, after we had our candlelit dinner, with my host grandparents and host aunt, we headed for the graveyard, another Finnish tradition. We visited the graves of various family members, clearing snow from their tombstones, and lighting candles. It was very cold outside, so once my family had paid their respects, we headed back home. Once warm at home, we started playing Christmas songs so that Joulupukki, or Santa Claus, would here us calling him. After three songs, Emilia saw someone through the window! He had come to pay us a special visit, right in our home. He came in bearing, not one, not two, but actually five bags full of presents. (No, not those big red ones Coca-Cola portrays Santa with. This Santa had plastic bags from S-Market, the local supermarket.) He settled down in the rocking chair, took Olivia and Loviisa into his lap to hear whether they had been kilti tai tuma (naughty or nice).

Once it was established we had all been very nice this year, he started handing out presents. We all ended up with big piles of packages around us. Santa took his leave then, since he had many more houses to go, and left us to our package opening. I got lots of tights and socks and hats, as well as two books on knitting socks, balls of yarn, and knitting needles. I guess he knew I've been cold!

Once we were done opening all our gifts, the sauna was ready, so we headed for an extra warm sauna. For the rest of the night, we just played with our new toys, and then went to sleep. On Christmas day, we went to my host dad's mother's house, where we had Christmas dinner (number 2). We talked, ate, talked, drank coffee, ate some more, opened presents, had desert, then it was time to go again. The day after Christmas, or Tapaninpäivä, we had morning sauna. Usually morning sauna takes place at 7 in the morning, but considering the fact that we're all late sleepers, we postponed it till 11. So maybe it was more of a lunch-time sauna. After that, though, Christmas celebrations had finally come to a close. I have to say this Christmas has taught me so much about the importance of family, and making people feel welcome. I truly felt like I was a part of the family, and I have learned that I will always have a home in Finland. Considering that, I was really sad to leave my first host family, but, now that I am in my new host family, I have also realized that, as Anu-Rikka (my first host mom) said, I am not losing one family, but gaining another. I was nervous for nothing, and I love my new host family! I'll write more about the transition into this family later, but everything is going really well, and I'm so grateful to have the chance to add three more people- and three cats- to my family!